Overview

This module was originally developed and utilized in an eighth-grade American history
class in order that students might have more realistic perceptions of Abraham Lincoln
as a human being and an aspiring leader, and to understand his views about slavery
before the Civil War. The module can be easily adapted to high school American history
courses.

Many, if not virtually all, middle and high school students have difficulty humanizing
Lincoln because of a lack of knowledge about Lincoln’s life before he became one of
the nation’s greatest presidents. Little or no understanding of Lincoln’s early life
and his thought and writing before becoming president often causes students to easily
succumb to the erroneous notion that Lincoln was an abolitionist, or the even more
inaccurate perception that Lincoln cared nothing for the plight of black slaves. This
module is designed to assist students in the cultivation of a more accurate and nuanced
view of Lincoln, and hopefully complements existing textbooks and other pedagogical
tools readers might use in their classes (estimated time, two and a half to three
hours).

Objectives

Students will:

Differentiate between the somewhat dehumanized Lincoln of the Lincoln Memorial and
Mount Rushmore and Lincoln the human being—a person with arguably the most humble
origins of all American presidents and the politician whose views evolved yet who
consistently possessed antislavery beliefs.

Analyze primary source excerpts of Lincoln’s speeches and letters from before the
Civil War to think about Lincoln as an aspiring leader and to better understand his
views about slavery and how they changed.

Think about Lincoln in the context of nineteenth-century rather than early twenty-first-century
beliefs about African-Americans.

Prerequisite Knowledge

No prior knowledge of Lincoln himself is necessary. Basic understanding of the following
terms and concepts will be helpful: abolition movement, Africa colonization plans
for former slaves, Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850, Fugitive Slave Law, Kansas-Nebraska
Act, and Dred Scott v. Sandford.

Module Introduction: Lincoln, Stone and Fles

Steps one through three are part of introductory activities and should move quickly
relative to the remainder of the module.

Show photo of Lincoln Memorial on-screen or provide printouts for each group. Have
students answer the following questions either individually, in groups, or as a whole-group
discussion:

What words or phrases come to mind when you see this image of Lincoln? What are the
first thoughts for you personally when you hear someone mention Lincoln?

What sort of mood does the Lincoln Memorial convey?

What can we learn from visiting memorials for famous Americans?

What information might we lack by learning about famous Americans only through memorials
and statues?

How might a memorial be a misleading representation of a historic figure? (During
discussion portion, the teacher may want to talk about the debate that occurred over
the Lincoln Memorial when it was conceptualized and constructed. See resources for
more information.)

An earlier photo of Lincoln was chosen for this lesson intentionally, as most students
are familiar with photos with from his presidency. Have students answer the following
questions either individually, in groups, or as a whole-group discussion:

What words come to mind about Lincoln as an individual when you view this photograph?
(Students should be informed that because photography had just been invented and being
photographed was considered a significant experience, few people in the nineteenth
century smiled in photographs. Also, holding a smile for the lengthy exposure time
was difficult.)

What does this photo show about Lincoln’s personality?

Why might a photo give us a better starting point of discussion about a person than
a statue?

Lincoln’s early life: Video and discussion (estimated time, ten minutes)

After the video, have students write two or three sentences describing any surprising
or unknown facts about Lincoln’s early life they learned, and lead a brief class discussion
based upon student responses.

Document analysis (estimated time, one and a half hours for both steps four and five)

Students will analyze excerpts from Lincoln’s speeches that focus on his thoughts
regarding the issue of slavery in the United States. Assign one of the following excerpts
and accompanying questions for each student to read silently in groups of four to
six, depending on the size of the class.

Note: All complete primary source material with student questions is available at
this link.

Teacher Contextual Information for Primary Sources

Many instructors will have the contextual knowledge to briefly introduce each primary
source reading to students, but this might not be the case with all six readings,
particularly with Lincoln’s private correspondence. The annotations and sources below
should be helpful as teacher background or, with high school students, possible in-depth
or homework resources.

The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions: Address before the Young Men's Lyceum
of Springfield, Illinois, January 27, 1838

Context: On November 7, 1837, in Alton, Illinois, in what came to be a nationally
publicized and polarizing event, a mob raided the warehouse where abolitionist Elijah
Lovejoy stored his printing press, burned the building, and killed Lovejoy. Although
the then-twenty-eight-year-old Lincoln did not mention Lovejoy by name, a major theme
of Lincoln’s earliest published speech was the evil of mob rule and the need for respect
for the law. For the complete speech and other background information, visit http://housedivided.dickinson.edu/sites/lincoln/lyceum-address-january-27-1838/.

Letter to Joshua Speed, August 24, 1855

Context: This letter to a close friend, who as a Kentucky slaveholder had a different
viewpoint on slavery than Lincoln, is influenced by Lincoln’s alarm concerning the
Kansas-Nebraska Act. It also affords students the chance to read two different Lincoln
accounts of the same steamboat journey and his reactions to the shackled slaves onboard.
See the complete letter, which condemns not only slavery but also the anti-immigrant
“Know-Nothing” Party, at

Dred Scott Decision Speech, Springfield, Illinois, June 26, 1857

Context: The Supreme Court decision in the Dred Scott case ruling against Scott—a
slave who contended that because his master had moved him from a slave state to a
free state and then a free territory, he was legally free on the grounds that slaves
had no right to sue since blacks were not citizens, further divided an already-polarized
union. Lincoln’s complete speech may be accessed at http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/speech-on-the-dred-scott-decision/.

Context: U.S. Senator Stephen Douglas, a Democrat, architect of the Kansas-Nebraska
Act, and Lincoln's opponent for the Senate seat, engaged Lincoln in seven debates.
(State legislatures elected U.S. senators until 1913, but the candidates held public
debates to vie for support for the election from supportive legislators.) Much of
the debates centered on issues such as slavery in the territories, the Dred Scott
decision, and the morality of slavery. Although Douglas was reelected to the Senate,
the debates propelled Lincoln and the antislavery Republican Party into the national
spotlight. The transcript of the first debate with accompanying background information
is available at https://www.nps.gov/liho/learn/historyculture/debate1.htm.

Author’s note: The excerpts from Lincoln’s letters are easier for students below eighth-grade
reading levels if differentiation of reading skills is necessary.

Document Analysis Continued

After silent reading, have student complete the following for each excerpt:

Highlight at least five key words from each excerpt from Lincoln. These key words
will help students write their summary “I think” statements.

Instruct students to answer questions that follow each excerpt to facilitate their
summary statements and later discussion.

In order to summarize the selection, students should write an “I think” statement
on their interpretation of Lincoln’s views from the assigned selection. (Example:
“I think Lincoln is saying in this letter than slavery was wrong because it goes against
their humanity.”)

Teacher should allow each student to share their “I think” statements within their
groups.

Discussion (estimated time, thirty minutes)

Teacher should lead a whole-class discussion using the best of the “I think” statements
and/or responses to text-based questions.

Culminating writing task (estimated time, thirty to sixty minutes)

Allow students to choose one of the following questions to respond to in writing.
At this point, students will need all six documents for use as evidence.

Are there similarities and differences between Lincoln’s letters and his public speeches
in regards to what he writes about slavery? Explain with evidence.

In what ways do you think Lincoln’s public addresses are influenced by the fact that
he was a lawyer and aspired to be a democratically elected leader? Explain with evidence.

Use evidence from the primary sources presented in class to show that Lincoln was
not an abolitionist.

Use evidence from the primary sources to show that Lincoln was against slavery.

In the nineteenth century, whether white Americans were for or against slavery, the
vast majority of whites in the U.S. and Europe considered blacks an inferior race.
Based on primary source evidence, how might Lincoln’s views on race conform to and
contradict the dominant views of the majority race?

Editor’s note: Because of the contemporary sensitivity regarding the above topic,
careful teacher preparation for this question is important. Two approaches are suggested:
students should be introduced to the notion that historical thinking involves cultivating
empathy (not sympathy) for people who lived in another era who held beliefs that today
are considered “racist” or “backward.” A discussion making this point might be followed
by a specific examination of Civil War-era beliefs about blacks. See the following
website for accurate information on this topic: http://www.americanantiquarian.org/Freedmen/Intros/questions.html.

Assessment

Teachers should feel free to use a rubric of their choice to assess the writing task,
or they may use the one below from the University of North Carolina School of Education:

http://ashbrook.org/: Lincoln’s 1854 Peoria Speech, accompanying materials, and Lincoln’s 1857 Dred Scott
Speech are available at this URL from the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University.

https://www.c-span.org/series/?LincolnDouglas: This site has the "Lincoln-Douglas Debates" from C-Span Classroom, a series of reenactments in 1994 of the Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas Illinois
senatorial debates in 1858.